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abujagirl
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Lagos state governor, Babatunde Fashola on Wednesday said the state deserved more than a Minister of State position in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Fashola made the assertion in Ikeja while answering questions at a programme to commemorate his administration’s 2500 days in office. The governor noted that President Jonathan got a substantial number of votes in Lagos during the last general election and therefore should have appointed a nominee from the state a full minister.
He said other states who did not give the President as much support were represented by full ministers in his cabinet. The governor explained that Mr Segun Aganga, the Minister of Trade and Investment, who was appointed a representative of Lagos in the Federal Executive Cabinet, was not an indigene of the state.
He said that Lagos had not been represented in the president's cabinet until few weeks ago when Senator Musiliu Obanikoro was appointed.
"Under this presidency, Lagos just had a minister a few weeks ago with the appointment of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro as Minister of State for Defence. The Minister of Trade and Investment does not represent Lagos. I think it is Section 147 of the Constitution that provides that every state is represented by a minister indigenous to that state.
"Aganga is from somewhere in Edo, he is not representing us although he has supported our initiatives well, such as our Free Trade Zone project. But more importantly, the President won an election here with about 1.7million votes and all the states got ministers except us, until a few weeks ago. That's the reward for our votes and as if that was not bad enough, what we got was a junior minister,’’ Fashola said.
On whether Obanikoro would represent the state well, the governor said that was not for him to judge.
He said the people of Lagos were sophisticated and would be able to judge on their own at the appropriate time.
Fashola made the assertion in Ikeja while answering questions at a programme to commemorate his administration’s 2500 days in office. The governor noted that President Jonathan got a substantial number of votes in Lagos during the last general election and therefore should have appointed a nominee from the state a full minister.
He said other states who did not give the President as much support were represented by full ministers in his cabinet. The governor explained that Mr Segun Aganga, the Minister of Trade and Investment, who was appointed a representative of Lagos in the Federal Executive Cabinet, was not an indigene of the state.
He said that Lagos had not been represented in the president's cabinet until few weeks ago when Senator Musiliu Obanikoro was appointed.
"Under this presidency, Lagos just had a minister a few weeks ago with the appointment of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro as Minister of State for Defence. The Minister of Trade and Investment does not represent Lagos. I think it is Section 147 of the Constitution that provides that every state is represented by a minister indigenous to that state.
"Aganga is from somewhere in Edo, he is not representing us although he has supported our initiatives well, such as our Free Trade Zone project. But more importantly, the President won an election here with about 1.7million votes and all the states got ministers except us, until a few weeks ago. That's the reward for our votes and as if that was not bad enough, what we got was a junior minister,’’ Fashola said.
On whether Obanikoro would represent the state well, the governor said that was not for him to judge.
He said the people of Lagos were sophisticated and would be able to judge on their own at the appropriate time.